MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories
The Business of Death (PODCAST EXCLUSIVE EPISODE)
24 Mar 2025
In 2002, two days after Halloween, a police officer stepped out of a house in the small town of Navasota, Texas. He shielded his eyes from the early morning sunlight, then ducked under the band of yellow tape that surrounded the house. The officer had been working all night and really needed a break. So he went down to the sidewalk and lit a cigarette. And as he smoked, his eyes fell on a muddy ditch that ran alongside the street. He saw something in the ditch that looked out of place. He walked closer and crouched down to examine the object. And when he saw what it was, his heart started racing. Because lying in the ditch was a mask. Under different circumstances, finding a mask two days after Halloween wouldn’t be that strange. But this wasn’t the kind of mask you’d buy at a costume shop... and the officer had found it 25 yards from the site of a murder.For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Full Episode
Hey Prime members, you can binge eight new episodes of the Mr. Ballin podcast one month early and all episodes ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today. In 2002, two days after Halloween, a police officer stepped out of a house in the small town of Navasota, Texas.
He shielded his eyes from the early morning sunlight, then ducked under the band of yellow tape that surrounded the house. This officer had been working all night and really needed a break. So he went down to the sidewalk and lit a cigarette. And as he smoked, his eyes fell on a muddy ditch that ran alongside the street, and he saw something in the ditch that just seemed out of place.
He walked over and crouched down to examine the object, and when he saw what it was, his heart began to race. It was a mask. Now, under normal circumstances, finding a mask two days after Halloween wouldn't be that strange. But this was not the kind of mask you would buy at a costume shop, and the officer had found it 25 yards away from the site of a murder.
But before we get into that story, if you're a fan of the Strange, Dark and Mysterious delivered in story format, then you've come to the right podcast because that's all we do and we upload twice a week, once on Monday and once on Thursday.
So if that's of interest to you, please clear the follow buttons browser cache so they lose all their saved passwords, then reset them all to complicated patterns of random numbers and letters. Okay, let's get into today's story. On the morning of November 1, 2002, a 54-year-old man named Lonnie Turner stood inside the back room of a funeral home, carefully trimming the hair on a dead man's head.
Lonnie was the owner and head mortician of the Jones Funeral Home in Navasota, Texas, which is a small town just north of Houston. Lonnie had already drained the blood from the body and filled its veins with embalming fluid. Once he wrapped up the haircut, he dressed the body and then applied makeup before moving it into its casket for the wake that afternoon.
When he was done, Lonnie headed down the hallway and up the steps to his office. The whole time he walked, his feet ached. Lonnie was only 54, but lately he'd been feeling exhausted from his job and from all the volunteering he did outside of work. As he reached the sitting area outside his office, he looked at the photos that lined the walls.
There were pictures of Lonnie with the town mayor, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Navasota School Board. He was the first African-American member of the Navasota City Council, and just two years ago, he'd received the Citizen of the Year Award from the Chamber of Commerce. The plaque hung on the wall just outside his office, and every time he looked at it, he felt a swell of pride.
But when he went into his office, Lonnie's smile quickly faded. Because his 21-year-old son, Junior, was sitting in Lonnie's chair with his feet up on Lonnie's desk, talking loudly nonstop into his cell phone. Lonnie tried to get his son's attention, but Junior just clearly ignored him. So Lonnie just stood there, arms crossed, giving his son a very stern look.
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